Dubai’s growing community of established art buyers and curious bargain hunters are voting with their feet and their wallets at World Art Dubai, as individual artists and galleries alike reported a flurry of opening day sales of paintings, sculptures and mixed medium artworks at the region’s leading accessible and affordable art fair.

Artworks including award-winning showcases, bold new techniques, ancient traditions and an array of unique media are available from USD100 to USD20,000

As visitors descended on the fair’s opening day, a range of individual artists including UAE-based Reham Saeed, 17-year-old Egyptian, Zakaria Rezk, and Japan’s Katsuhiro Miyauchi sold pieces within minutes of the event opening.

With World Art Dubai boasting a roster of more than 50 regional and international galleries, Dubai’s Create Hub Gallery and Art Plus Gallery, as well as the Japan Promotions pavilion, all saw major works leave in the hands of happy collectors.

“We’ve been exhibiting at World Art Dubai since the very first year and this has definitely been the busiest first day of the fair yet,” said Lidija Khachatourian, owner of Create Hub Gallery, which is exhibiting a series of works by emerging African artists at the fair. “We sold two artworks within 30 minutes of opening. It’s a great feeling putting those little red ‘sold’ dots on work and the opening interest shows African art is definitely on the radar of Dubai’s savvy collectors.”

World Art Dubai 2018 is open from 2pm to 9pm from Wednesday 18^th April to Saturday 21^st April. Tickets cost AED25 on-site.